Peek-A-Boo Corn Muffins

I get it. Kids and veggies don’t often mix. I’m a dietitian who has regularly exposed my daughter, Mia, since she was 6 months old to a decent range of foods including many veggies (time and time again, even when rejected.) And guess what, that kid who use to eat everything from chicken edamame fricassee to steamed clams is now morphing into a selective eater. There are times I just throw all the rules out the window and give her yogurt for dinner (talk about a true dietitian confession.)

Instead, I put my energy and faith in the facts that if I a) continue to offer and expose her to a variety of whole foods and recipes and b) I eat those said foods myself in front of her that she will come around. I mean, I certainly was no veggie lover as a kid.

The other strategy I’ve practiced since Mia could stand in a chair at the counter, is to get her in the kitchen at any opportunity. And during our recent kitchen remodel, I *sacrifced* some storage space so she could have her own cabinet of kitchen things:

And a rack for her cookbooks:

Recently, we made Peek-A-Boo Corn Muffins from Sesame Street Silly Snacks: Cooking With Kids- a fun, early kids cookbook (it’s a hard board book with great photos, beloved Sesame characters and is fairly healthy.) In the end, Mia refused to the eat the peek-a-boo “tree” inside the muffin (while nibbling around it) but she happily snacked on the roasted broccoli trees as we assembled the ingredients before baking. Go figure.

Here’s a link to the recipe, which in the book is called Oscar’s Broccoli Trees in a Haystack (but for some reason Grover gets the recipe credit on the website version.) Substitutions: I used 1 cup white whole wheat flour instead of regular white for a bit more fiber and nutrients and roasted the broccoli first for extra flavor.

Do your kids like being in the kitchen? Do they have a favorite “I like these vegetables” recipe?